He turns to Ruth and says something. She runs into the crowd and begins leading people towards the cave we just came from.
‘Where’s Chumana?’ Sophie shouts at me.
A glint of orange fizzes in the corner of my eye and I pull her into the sand. The Speerspitzes to our left erupt into flames and Serena screams, the left arm of her jacket on fire.
‘Serena!’ Marquis bellows.
Freddie throws his body on top of hers, smothering the flames with his hands, then pulls her up and drags her away from the raging fire.
I crawl across the sand to reach them. ‘Is she okay?’
Serena is sobbing, holding her arm as violent tremors take over her body.
‘We have to go back to the caves,’ I say, looking around until I spot Hollingsworth, firing with Cormac.
Freddie nods and lifts Serena off the sand as Atlas runs for Hollingsworth. I see her argue with him beneath the flickeringshadow of flames. Then her eyes land on me. I feel something inside me shrivel. Does she have a way of contacting Goranov from here? Atlas shouts something at her. She gives a small nod, abandoning the Speerspitze, and he hurries back towards me.
‘What did you say to her?’
‘I told her Chumana knows about her plan,’ Atlas says. ‘And that if she tries anything, she’ll soon be dead.’
‘Chumana is—’
‘She doesn’t know,’ Atlas says. ‘Let’s keep it that way for now.’
‘This way!’ Ruth shouts, leading us back in the direction of the tunnel.
I seize Atlas’s hand and run, then stumble on a body in the sand. I leap backwards as I stare into a cold, dead face.
Ralph.
My eyes land on his empty gaze and I feel nothing. His skin is smooth and pale, marked only by a spot of blood left from a shaving cut. His chest is oddly sunken. He must have been crushed when he and Goranov fell from the sky.
But where is his master?
‘We’re losing,’ I gasp as Freddie and Marquis carry Serena past me and through the cave entrance. Ruth is running to and fro along the cliff face, gesturing to rebels and children to follow her.
‘Viv!’ Atlas says.
He pulls me into the cave. We flatten ourselves against the cold wall as more people rush inside. Awful roars sound on the beach and inside the cave, fearful eyes glint in the darkness.I stare out at the battle, every patch of sky and hilltop lit by fire. Ursa is hidden away somewhere with Dr Seymour and her baby. If the Bulgarian dragons take over tonight, will they have to live underground forever?
There are hundreds of people inside the cave, a mix of Guardians, uniformed rebel soldiers, Canna children and civilians who must have flown in from the mainland. I see a huddle of kids armed with flint knives and spot Jasper among them. He nods at me as he watches Freddie bandage Serena’s arm. I pick my way through the crowd towards them. Serena has stopped shaking but her face is twisted in a grimace of pain. Freddie has wrapped her burn in a wet handkerchief and is helping her hoist her arm into a sling.
‘That’ll keep it from getting infected,’ he mutters as she blinks in surprise.
‘We were promised planes,’ I hear someone shout. ‘Fire-breathing ones. So where in God’s name are they?’
I turn around.
‘We flew in here on a suicide mission,’ the man is yelling, his voice echoing through the humid cave. ‘We’re all going to burn.’
I close my eyes and wipe the sweat from my brow. Outside, steam is rising off the sand.
‘Our fleet of fire-breathing planes was sabotaged when the Bolgoriths attacked Eigg a few days ago,’ says a clipped voice. Hollingsworth strides into the middle of the cave. ‘Every plane we built on Eigg over the last month, save for two, was torched.’
‘Shit,’ Marquis mutters.
A soft moaning comes from the corner of the cave. It’sEdward, stretched out on the ground with George’s jacket over his shoulders, a pool of blood seeping out beneath him. I go to him, then take a step back in shock. Vomit rises in my throat. His leg is gone.
